The time I prepared a pizza

I had ordered a pizza from a pizza outlet just the day before and had paid an exorbitant prize for a 10 inch pizza with barely 6-7 chicken pieces. The cheese was so scantily distributed that one could have been forgiven for believing that it was just a base and toppings that had been delivered. In addition to the lack of cheese, the pizza was soggy and it felt like I was eating bread dipped in gravy. That base was actually bending freely in my hand. I had had enough of those fraud pizza outlets.

The line from Ratatouille came to my mind.

Anyone can cook- Chef Gusteau

I have adapted it to, “Anyone can cook anything and everything.”

The next morning I set out to the market and purchased a pizza base packet. 2 bases for 8 rupees. Then I picked up a block of cheese and came home. The tomatoes, onions and capsicum were already there at home.

Half an hour later, I set about making it. First, I removed two tomatoes from the fridge and cut them into bite sized chunks. After a while, I took an onion and a capsicum and chopped them up into small pieces. Each of the three toppings were placed in different bowls.

 The pizza bases were spread on a cutting board. I applied a layer of tomato ketchup on them. I took the grater and grated the block of cheese to form a thin layer of cheese strands over the base. I scattered pieces of tomato, onion and capsicum all over this and then set about grating more cheese.  I gingerly lifted the pizzas and placed it into the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. What would I do for 15 minutes? I went and Google how to best click a pizza as I figured it would be a good time to use my DSLR to capture an image of these pizza to add to my food album on Facebook.

The oven went ping and I put on the mittens, opened the oven and pulled out the pizzas. The cheese smelt amazing.

The Pizza

It is often said that we first eat with our eyes and according to me these pizzas were a delight to the eyes. I quickly snapped a few pictures of the pizza and then applied a spoonful of ketchup on each quarter. More cheese was grated atop each quarter and then I got a long knife and cut the pizzas into quarters.

"A cheesy delight" said the neighbour who had come over and was asked to have a piece. My mom loved the crunchy base and I honestly felt that I made better pizzas than the pizza outlets. For the 8 pieces I don't think my spending exceeded 150 rupees. That's cheap for 2 pizzas right and the amount of toppings I had sprinkled on a regular sized pizza are much more than what one would get on a large pizza from a restaurant. The amount of cheese on my pizza would put the cheese burst pizzas on the Domino's advertisements to shame.- ya those are just the advertisements .We know how much cheese actually comes on the pizza delivered to our door.

As I made the pizza, I obviously loved it. The crunchy base, toppings generously sprinkled and the cheese which made it feel like a pizza and not the waste that is supplied by pizza stores. The pizzas churned out by the stores here are an embarrassment to pizzas in general and are making a mockery of the Italian delicacies.

With this I had added pizzas to the list of things that had been cooked by me-which included dark chocolate brownie, white chocolate Brownie, Shakshuka, Mousse, etc.